


Overture

by ShepGoesWhat



Series: Things Unnoticed, Words Unsaid [2]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Mass Effect 2, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 12:25:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10899318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShepGoesWhat/pseuds/ShepGoesWhat
Summary: Shepard and Garrus stop dancing around each other.





	Overture

Garrus stared blankly at the screen in front of him. He knew he should be focused on calibrating the new Thanix cannons. They were nowhere near ready to take on the Collectors, and he was still getting complaints from Donnelly and Daniels. But he had bigger problems on his mind.

It began yesterday evening when he left engineering and noticed Shepard, bright-eyed and rosy-cheeked, leaving the Starboard Cargo Bay. She gave him a wide smile when their eyes met and tossed her arms out as if to embrace him. "Garrus! What're you doing here?" she half-shouted. Her greeting was so reminiscent of their initial meeting on Omega that he blinked twice before replying, "Shepard, have you been drinking?"

"Damn. That obvious?" she laughed. Her laugh was something carefree and unrestrained, and Garrus felt a pang of jealousy. What had Massani said to make Shepard relax so completely? "I better get back up to my cabin before Miranda notices. Good thing it's always you catching me." She grinned at him and stepped in the elevator. He followed her in.

"So, what were you and Massani talking about?" he asked casually. He hadn't seen her so happy and buoyant since they'd seen Wrex on Tuchanka. It must have been something good. "Did you know," she said in her best conspirator voice, "that he has a turian frigate model in his room?"

Garrus chuckled, relieved. Of course. That's why Shepard was smiling like a maniac. She was crazy for those damn model ships she so proudly displayed. "You didn't try to drink him under and swipe it, right?" he mock-scolded.

"Me? Hero of Elysium, Savior of the Citadel stealing? Never, Officer Vakarian." she replied innocently. The elevator chimed and opened onto Shepard's cabin. Garrus realized too late he never hit the button for the crew deck.

She looked at her cabin door, looked back at him, and pulled him out into the hallway. She gently pushed him against the opposite wall and rested her head against his chest. The atmosphere was suddenly thick, and he found it hard to breathe. He was about to lower his chin to her head, about to raise his arms to wrap around her when she suddenly looked up.

The intensity in her eyes stirred something predatory inside him, and for a moment, he saw himself sinking his talons into her waist and hip as he licked the side of her neck. She reached up and touched the scarred side of his face. "I like you, Garrus. I guess it's not just krogan women."

He froze. They had been dancing around it for so long -- small gestures of affection, joking banter -- that he found himself at a loss. His brain clashed with his mouth's sudden inability to form words as his subharmonics went haywire. _I like you too, Shepard. I feel the same way._

She must have seen his answer somewhere through all the internal conflict because she laughed, unrestrained and utterly happy. She pressed her lips to his scarred mandible and whispered in his ear, "Night, Garrus."

His omnitool beeped at him, pulling him back to the present. A reply from Tali. _Best romance movie? Of course, it has to be Fleet and Flotilla. Tonight, I'm as free as the dust in the solar wind. Do you want to watch it together?_

He quickly wrote some excuses. Better to do his research alone. He wasn't going to be caught off-guard twice. If Shepard had decided the dance was over, he needed to get ready to sweep her off her feet.


End file.
